Defining ‘Latin America’ can be a difficult process for those who don’t fully know what it consists of. Generally speaking, most of South America is included within Latin America (aside from Guyana and Suriname.) In addition to South America, most of Central America and the Caribbean are included as well as Mexico. What defines Latin America is that all of the countries speak a derivative of the Romance languages (Spanish, Italian and some French.)

Latin America is often seen as a relaxed and exotic collection of countries, but is also viewed as one of the poorer areas in the world. Both can be true, dependent upon where you visit. It is widely agreed that Latin America is one of the most beautiful places in the world and offers some fantastically diverse and unique cuisine.

Chimichanga
The chimichanga is a wildly popular dish prevalent in Southern US cuisine, Tex-Mex and Mexican. The chimichanga is essentially a deep fired burrito, which is arguably the most widely known and much loved migration of Mexican food. A flour tortilla is filled with a variety of meat, vegetable and spices in the same way that burritos are, but then the entire dish is deep fried to produce a softer and more compacted food.

Whereas burritos are normally seen as transport food, eaten in the same fashion as a sandwich with the hands and casually; chimichangas are often used as a main dish. Rice, salsa, guacamole and cheese normally all accompany a chimichanga to make a meal.

Visit Latin America
If you like the sound of Latin American food, the only real way to experience it is at its source. Browse the range of sunshine holidays at FirstChoice and find an affordable deal to Latin America, rather than making do with the chain restaurants serving its food across the world.

Feijoada
In Brazil, one of the largest countries in Latin America, feijoada is a much favoured dish amongst both locals and tourists. Also originating from Portugal, feijoada is a stew of beans with beef and pork. Brazilian feijoada is made with black beans whereas it’s Portuguese relative is made with white beans. Those who don’t like the spicy nature of Latin American food will be a lot safer choosing feijoada at a restaurant. The dish is very salty and strong of flavour but isn’t overly spicy, the beans and meat dominate the flavour to give it a warming and nourishing essence.

Feijoada is normally served with white rice, cassava, fried bananas or pork rinds. If you’d come to Latin America specifically looking for that spice, don’t fret. A dip of hot pepper sauce is often an accompaniment to feijoada.

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